Scholars Debate Sentencing System

A 2005 Supreme Court decision that changed a key part of the federal sentencing system drew a panel of distinguished legal scholars from around the country to Pacific McGeorge on March 10.

Pacific McGeorge Professor Michael Vitiello introduced the lineup for the symposium on U.S. v. Booker. Among the speakers was distinguished constitutional law Professor Erwin Chemerinsky of Duke Law School.

The Booker Court declared that the judges’ federal sentencing guidelines were invalid and that the 6 th Amendment required juries, not judges, to find facts relevant to sentencing. The symposium, sponsored by the McGeorge Law Review, explored criminal sentencing in the post-Booker world.

Participants included: Professor Diane Coursell, University of Wyoming School of Law; Norman Bay, University of New Mexico School of Law; Benji McMurray, law clerk, U.S. 10 th Circuit Court of Appeals; Professor Michael O’Hear, Marquette University Law School; Professor Deborah Young, Cumberland School of Law; Professor Myrna Raeder, Southwestern University School of Law; Professor Peter Henning, Wayne State University Law School; Professor Eric Luna, University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law; and Professor Barton Poulson, Utah Valley State College.